NIH doctor schools Elisabeth Hasselbeck after she asks him to ‘seal the borders’ over Ebola [View all]

[CatWoman]

Fox News host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Monday asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institiute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, why he was not recommending a “closing of our borders” in response to an Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

On Monday’s edition of Fox & Friends, Hasselbeck pointed out that a freelance NBC cameraman was being allowed to return to the U.S. after being infected with Ebola. And a man in Dallas who traveled from the Liberia to the U.S. was also fighting for his life.

“Why are we still letting people into the country who could have possibly been exposed?” she asked. “Why not just shut down the flights and secure the borders? Many of you want to know… Why not, just as a precaution until we get things under control, seal off the border temporarily?”

Fauci said that he understood why people might jump to the conclusion that a travel ban might help, but he said that Hasselbeck’s suggestion “didn’t make any sense” because preventing countries from getting aid could make the epidemic worse.

“And if we completely isolate them — don’t let anything in, don’t let anything out — we know from experience with public health, that marginalizes them,” he explained. “And you could have civil unrest, governments could fall. And then you wind up having spread the virus to other countries in west Africa, which would only compound the problem.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/nih-doctor-schools-elisabeth-hasselbeck-after-she-asks-him-to-seal-the-borders-over-ebola/comments/#disqus